In April 1945 the Allied armies in Italy launched Operation Grapeshot to conquer the northern portion of that nation and destroy the Axis forces located there.
In April 1945 the Allied armies in Italy launched Operation Grapeshot to conquer the northern portion of that nation and destroy the Axis forces located there. As covered in an earlier post, this operation was entirely successful, and by the 25th both Allied Armies had reached the Po River having collected some 54,000 prisoners in the process. For the remainder of the month the Allies moved quickly to exploit this growing victory. Already, elements of the American Fifth Army had crossed the Po River on 23 April, and over the next two days the British Eighth Army followed suit. From there, the Allies raced forward to complete their liberation of Northern Italy. By this stage in the campaign, order and discipline within the German army had largely disintegrated, and the Allies were able to make great gains against minimal or sporadic resistance. Assisting them in this process was a massive uprising by Italian partisans that exacerbated the situation for the Germans. One by one the maj